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Will.i.am Calls Flight Attendant 'Racist' After Police Were Called

Qantas Airways Limited claims it was just a “misunderstanding on board.”

When it comes to racial discrimination, famed producer will.i.am has no problem putting you on full blast. 

According to a series of tweets posted on the rapper’s Twitter account, The Black Eyed Peasgroup member had an unpleasant encounter with a flight attendant during a Qantas flight from Brisbane to Sydney. 

(Photo: Noam Galai/WireImage)

Noam Galai/WireImage

(Photo: Noam Galai/WireImage)

Reportedly, the ordeal started after will.i.am decided to use his noise-canceling earphones to make beats on his laptop. Unfortunately, he didn’t hear the announcement to put his belongings away and prepare for landing.  

"I’m currently on a flight from Brisbane to Sydney,” he tweeted. “I’m sorry to say me and my group have experienced they worse service due to an overly aggressive flight attendant… I don’t want to believe she racist. But she has clearly aimed all her frustrations only at the people of colour.”

According to will.i.am, the flight attendant was rude and seemed to target him because he was Black. 

He then tweeted the name of the attendant, and the name and badge number of the policeman that escorted him off the plane. 

A passenger, who was also on the plane, posted on the Twitter thread that she was allegedly there to witness to the situation. “I was on the same flight and couldn’t believe the appalling behaviour of the flight attendant. My apologies on behalf of Australia.” 

Since exposing the names of the officer and the flight attendant, a few of his 12.8M Twitter fans have voiced their concerns about sharing their identities, especially to outrageous fans.

One of those fans posted a not-so-nice rant targeted to the flight attendant. 

Condemning any acts of hate, will.i.am responded to the rant, “Please do not send Hate...This type of disrespect and name-calling is uncalled for...I don’t support abuse & attacks like this...I hope that everyone can be more compassionate & understanding towards one another...because it was the lack of compassion that caused this #noH8.” 

He also tweeted, “If I did something wrong....or if I was the slightest bit rude to a FAN or a journalist during work, I would be publicly named...this is what Twitter is for...we are supposed to call out wrongdoings so we can have a safer more compassionate world.”

A Qantas spokesman told The Independent: “There was a misunderstanding on board, which seems to have been exacerbated by will.i.am wearing noise-canceling headphones and not being able to hear instructions from the crew. We completely reject the suggestion this had anything to do with race. We’ll be following up with will.i.am and wish him well for the rest of the tour.”

Seven-time Grammy winner Will.i.am, born William Adams, is currently on tour.

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